How You Are Helping 435k Rohingya Refugees Every Month

How You Are Helping 435k Rohingya Refugees Every Month

Long term programmes established by Islamic Help thanks to the generosity and backing of our donors are helping the equivalent of 435,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh every month.

The refugee crisis started in August 2017 when Rohingya Muslims started fleeing Myanmar (Burma) for neighbouring Bangladesh. What started as a trickle became and exodus and within a couple of months more than 650,000 Rohingya refugees had arrived in Bangladesh.

Shortly after the crisis erupted, we launched an emergency appeal and with the help of our donors and partners provided emergency food packs, water, shelter, hygiene kits, bedding, winter items and solar panels to more than 100,000 refugees.

Following on from that we have established longer term projects which range from housing and water stations to static and mobile medical facilities. These are providing aid and support to 435,000 refugees every month.

To provide refugees with a degree of security and shelter, the Islamic Help team in Bangladesh purchased a plot of land and is building 1,000 homes, each of which costs £400 and will house one family.

The structures are made of closely knitted bamboo to keep out wind and rain, especially important during the monsoon season.

As well as these, a further 40 homes will initially house 200 orphans and 40 widows will be employed to act as their guardians.

There will also be a specially-built school where orphans will be taught by qualified refugee teachers.

This will give orphans stability and ensure they do not miss out on education, while also empowering the women who will have the opportunity to contribute to the refugee community and earn an income so they can become self-sustainable.

As part of our longer term commitment, we have established three water stations which are used by three tankers that act as mobile stations, with each delivering 30,000 litres of water a day to refugees at various locations. To complement this we have also stationed 30 tanks, each holding 2,000 litres of water, in refugee camps.

As part of our medical aid commitments, we have a fixed medical camp offering general medical care and medicines plus a dedicated eye care centre, and a mobile unit which treats patients who are unable to travel to the static camp.

All of this has only been possible thanks to our supporters and partners, but more still needs to be done.